A DAD who turned to dealing heroin to pay off drug debts after losing his job in the recession has been jailed.

Craig Boddy, 37, was caught with 44 wraps of the Class A drug, said to have a street value of £627.

Prosecutor Louise Reevell told Teesside Crown Court yesterday that police searched an address at Elmhurst Gardens in Hemlington, Middlesbrough, on October 21 last year, where they found the stash inside a kinder egg container in the kitchen.

The drugs were seized along with three mobile phones, and Boddy admitted they were his. He pleaded guilty to possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply on January 28 this year.

Miss Reevell said: “He said he was dealing to pay off a drug debt.”

Paul Abrahams, defending, said: “Having lost his job in July due to the recession he was not able to service the debt that he owed.”

Mr Abrahams added that Boddy made the “foolish” decision to deal drugs in order to pay back his debts and it was a decision he was ashamed of.

“He has destroyed his life as a result of those actions,” added Mr Abrahams. “His partner has left him, he can’t see his children and he is now living with his mother.”

The court heard that Boddy, of Ainstable Road, Ormesby, had previous convictions for drug possession, burglary, matters of dishonesty and vehicle offences, but was last convicted in 2000, when he was handed a custodial sentence.

Mr Abrahams said he had remained out of trouble since his last sentence, but due to the job loss he had “reverted back”.

Judge John Walford said he took into account the progress made and the early admissions.

But he added: “The long and short of it is heroin destroys lives. It has destroyed your life.

“It has affected your wife, your children and your mother, and this is why the courts have to take a serious view of any offence which involves the wider distribution of heroin.”

Jailing Boddy for two-and-a-half years, the judge told him: “In the seriousness, it’s impossible to suspend the sentence.”